Broad Reach is proud to present the first major solo show by Uist based artist Sophie Morrish.
For Biomass (NU20072014) Morrish will create a large-scale floor installation from her extensive collection of faunal remains, gathered on Uist over the last seven-years. This complex arrangement of skulls, bones, teeth and feathers, (in excess of 60 species to date*), certainly attests to the biodiversity of these islands, however, by avoiding taxonomic norms associated with science and museum display, the artist invites deeper questions about hierarchy, estrangement and commonality in our relationship with the natural world.
This exhibition marks the first in a yearlong investigation by Broad Reach into the field of archaeology, exploring our relationship to the land alongside different ways artists navigate and interpret their surroundings. Our public programme for Biomass (NU20072014) will combine activities encouraging engagement with the natural world, together with a focus on the idiosyncratic world of collecting.
This is a unique opportunity to view a remarkable personal collection that we hope will ignite, stimulate and renew interest, understanding and appreciation of our natural surroundings.
An accompanying text has been written for the exhibition by the distinguished writer and curator Mel Gooding.
Save the date//
Opening
Saturday 7 February, Gallery Two and Cafe area
1 – 4.00 pm
Artist Talk by Sophie Morrish
Thursday 12 February, Café, 7pm
Wunderkammer
Wednesday 4 March, Gallery Two/Cafe
Assistant Curator, Gayle Meikle, will discuss Biomass in relation to the Cabinet of Curiosities a mechanism of display that began in Renaissance Europe.
10.30am
Things We Collect
Saturday 14 March
An afternoon dedicated to the art of collecting; including a show and tell area where we invite all collectors great and small to come along and share their wares.
1.00 – 4.00pm
Closing event
Saturday 21 March (tbc)
About the artist//
Originally from Hampshire, Sophie Morrish moved from central London, where she studied at Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art, to mainland Scotland in 1996. Working as a lecturer at Glasgow School of Art, Morrish developed her creative practice in what she refers to as her ‘Walden Years’, living in a caravan at the foot of the Campsie Fells. From here she moved to the heart of The Great Forest of Loch Ard, in the Trossachs, where a life long fascination with the natural world and interest in existential perspectives continued to inform the progress of her work. Following recovery from a near fatal car crash in 2002 and driven by a desire to live in ever more elemental an environment, she settled on North Uist in 2007, (Morrish first visited the island in 1996, bringing a group of students from Glasgow School of Art on a field trip; the powerful impression Uist made inspired her permanent relocation to Scotland). Here, invigorated by the special natural circumstances of the place, Morrish continues to mature her work, informed by a particular interest in perception of natural phenomena and human relationship to ‘other’ animal life.
image credit : Oceanic, (i), 2014, courtesy of the artist, Sophie Morrish